Nurture
by Sadistic Writer Alice
Summary: Karma knows he can't help his girlfriend get over the trauma on his own. But it's too difficult to get her a doctor and keep up with his part-time job when Asano is looking for a way to bring him down. But maybe it's time he and Manami start relying on their old classmates to help them out.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Completely AU! Meaning: no Korosensei :P So ya, most of the events in E class never happened in this fic. Gradually I'm going to include more of those lovable E class characters - and maybe A class characters, into this story. I'm sorry this beginning chapter is so angst T_T I just - I watched RWBY and it's raining outside. Hope you enjoy this torturous tale of love and pain.

 **Nurture**

It's true that the weather can affect our every emotion.

The warm sun rays may warm your heart, creating a feeling of calm, or a feeling of utter joy and excitement.

The rain pouring outside your window can set your mind at ease and give you a feeling of tranquility...

Or it can bring great sorrow and remorse.

In Okuda Manami's case, it brought back terrible memories of the past, and feelings which could not easily be shaken off.

Beyond the hard pelting of rain drops on the pavement, and the splishing and splashing as children jumped into puddles, there was the screeching of tires, the blare of horns, cries of panic, and the sounds of sirens in the distance.

Curled up into a small ball on the cool tiled floor of the kitchen, she lay on her side, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Tears streaked down her face, as she breathed in shuddering breaths in between choking down sobs, as the memories of June 6th, 2012 flooded into her brain, repeating themselves over, and over again.

It was dark in the kitchen, there was no power, and no heat and she was alone.

* * *

"Thanks for staying in late today, Akabane."

"No problem,"

The red-haired boy smiled, changing out of his work uniform and into a pair of jeans and a dark purple shirt. He had stayed overtime at the shop in the mall, as they had got slammed with work and were short-staffed.

"Are you going to be ok, going out into the rain like that?" his manager asked with concern.

"It's raining today?" the boy asked, tensing up visibly.

"Ya, the rain started up just after lunch."

Akabane Karma looked at his wrist-watch, it was 5:55, and that meant it had been six hours since the rain started. That wasn't good.

"I've gotta go!" he said, rushing out the door.

He didn't mind the rain himself, but being away from home when it rained gave him a feeling of unease, as it was on his conscience that in the little apartment, alone, was his girlfriend suffering alone. Without him there, he wasn't sure just how unstable she would be. Given that it was pouring rain now, and probably had been for hours, he would assume that she was not in the least bit fine.

Running as fast as he could, he caught the train home and he sprinted all the way to the apartment complex, and tripped over his feet as he went up the fire escape to their apartment.

Prying open the living room window, he stepped into the living room, noting that all of the lights were off - the circuit breaker was busted and was not yet fixed. He'd have a good talk with the landlord about that.

"Manami?" he called softly, kicking off his wet shoes.

She was more sensitive to sound when it rained, and she had the tendency to curl up in cold, open spaces. Claustrophobic. Only when it rained, and when he wasn't there.

He heard her whimper and sob, and then he was turning on the flashlight on his phone to find her. He went to the kitchen, and there she was, curled up, her hair a dark tussle of tangles, dressed in a light purple nightgown.

"K-K...arma, Karma..." she was hyperventilating, and crying so much.

He felt a wave of guilt flood over him for leaving her alone for so long. He put down his phone and he picked her up, whispering words of comfort to her as she clung to him and continued to cry.

"It's ok, I'm here now. I'm here, you're not alone." he murmured, carrying her to his room and putting her onto the bed. He threw back the blankets, and laid down beside her on his side, wrapping his arms around her middle, bringing her back against his chest.

Gradually, as he whispered to her and kissed the top of her head, she stopped crying, and she began to breathe normally. Her breathing became steady, and completely exhausted, she drifted off to sleep.

He knew he had to get her help. This had been going on for too long, the pain, the nightmares, and rainy days. He thought at first that he was all the help she would need. But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how many kisses, hugs, and talks they had, he could only ease the pain. He could never really heal her on his own.

It was going to be difficult getting her to professional help. It was hard enough keeping his part-time job, and the fact that they were living together, a secret from the school, but getting a psychiatrist, it was going to be even more difficult. They went to Kunugigaoka High, and the principle, no, the student council president Asano Gakushu would have them kicked out, and probably out of their apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I am having a good day today! I got to have a nice bath, cut my hair, did my makeup and I didn't screw up on mascara, I also had a delicious dinner, published a new fic, finished some homework, I got a letter from a friend, and now a new update :D**

 **Sooo this is a mix? of kinda sadness, and some fluffy/slightly humorous scenes for you xD It's a somewhat-serious-but-not-super-serious chapter!**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 _Flashback_

Present

 **Nurture**

Drip, drop.

The rain continued on for another day.

Those bad memories flooded into her mind again..

 _"Wake up.."_

 _Opening her eyes, Manami' sat up in bed, and there she saw in the dark was her mother, pale-faced, drenched from the rain outside._

 _"Manami, we're leaving!" her mother whispered, hurriedly, grabbing her by the arm._

 _"What...?" the girl looked around the room, and she noticed that the drawers were taken out of her dresser and emptied out, and then she looked down by her mother's feet. There was a dufflebag, and a jacket._

 _"Put this on, hurry!" her mother forced the jacket onto her, her hands trembling._

 _The house was really quiet, except for the rain... That meant that father wasn't home._

 _Putting on the jacket, she followed after her mother who had slung the bag over her shoulder and was stumbling towards the door._

 _"Where are we going? Why..?"_

 _Her mother didn't say anything but hurried outside, and towards their little blue buggy car._

 _Both car doors were open, and the engine was already on._

 _She got into the passenger seat as her mother threw the bag into the trunk and then got into the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway before she had even closed the car door._

 _"We've gotta leave while we have the chance... oh no, he's home.. He's home, shit!" Her mother cursed, kicking the car into drive mode as quickly as possible and speeding down the street._

 _Manami looked through the rearview mirror, and there in their driveway was the grimy man, a bottle of booze in one hand, and his empty hand clenched into a fist. His face was beyond angry, furious._

 _He ran for his truck and he was opening the door and starting the engine._

 _"Mom..." Manami looked at her mother with panicked eyes, "He's coming after us. Stop, he can't drive while he's drunk!"_

 _"Your father isn't a good man. Don't you understand?! He wants to hurt us!" her mother hissed through clenched teeth, going faster around corners. "Manami he hasn't hurt you yet, but after this, he definitely will."_ _"_

 _"Why... then why didn't you leave sooner?!" Manami asked, tears threatening to spill. Her eyes became blurry, and her glasses fogged up. Those red jagged lines on her mother's wrists blurred, and that awful blue and purple bruise on her neck, changed from the shape of a hand, into a big blob._

 _"I HAVE TRIED!" her mother shouted, looking at her, taking her eyes off of the road for a second._

 _Her eyes were teary too._

 _"I did.. until I became pregnant with you, I stayed so that you would have a father and a home." her mother's words came out bitter and resentful. "He isn't your real father, he's just a guy who had a lot of cash and love to give..or so I thought. I'm sorry Manami, you really deserve better parents." She looked at her daughter, tears streaming down her face._

 _The two of them jerked forward, as the car was hit from behind. Her mother turned the steering wheel to go onto a different street and the tires slipped on the wet pavement, they missed the corner and were hit dead on by another vehicle. The truck, Manami's father's, it kept going and rammed right into the driver's side of the car._

 _Everything went black, and then, waking up, Manami was being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance. There was a raging fire, and smoke. Bodies covered in white sheets were on the wet pavement a few feet away._

 _Her mother's was being covered._

"Manami," she jumped, feeling arms wrap around her from behind. "Manami, you're ok.. You're here right now, in the present." He whispered against her ear, softly, lovingly.

She relaxed, and closed her eyes, feeling her heart beat slow, matching with the beat of his. Her tears dried, and the pain became numb, a distant memory.

He turned her around, and he kissed her forehead, brushing her hair that had been sticking to her forehead away. "I love you."

"Please, don't leave." she whispered, hugging him tightly. "I don't want to be alone."

"You won't be." he kissed her and held her her close to him, lifting her up off of the kitchen floor and onto the kitchen counter.

She sighed, resting her forehead against his. "Do we have to tell them?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered, grabbing her hands and kissing her knuckles. "Love, they'll keep our secrets, and they'll stand beside us."

"If you say so," she pouted, wrapping her legs around his waist and nuzzling his chest.

He smiled, looking down at her. She really was cute. "Are you feeling better?" he asked teasingly.

She gave a small nod, fingers fiddling with a loose thread on his sweater. "The rain's stopped."

He turned his head towards the window, seeing that the rain was no longer pelting down. "Why so it has." he murmured, running his fingers through her long, tangled hair.

"What shall we do now?" Manami asked.

"Anything you want." was his reply.

"Then it's anything you want." she retorted, looking up at him stubbornly.

Ah yes, she was like this without the rain.

He laughed humorously. "Well I do believe we're a bit at odds now aren't we? Because we both want what the other wants."

Manami glared at him, and tugged at his shirt. "Come on, be serious! What do you want to do?"

He smirked, feeling happy that she was springing back from her previous breakdown quickly. He kissed her on both cheeks, saying in a low, seductive voice, "I do believe.. I'd like to kiss those eyes," he said, watching as her eyes fluttered closed. He kissed both lids gently. "Those lips.." he smiled, pressing his against her soft pink ones. "These wrists," he said, holding her her hand, turning it and bringing her wrist to his lips for a long moment. "...And maybe.." he chuckled, turning her head to the side, his lips brushing against her ear.

She shivered, her face turning pink. "And..?" she breathed.

He grinned, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder. "Maybe we should go take a nice long nap."

"Huh?" she giggled, turning her head to look at him.

"I think I'll use you as my pillow." he said, putting her down onto the bed, nuzzling her and putting his head on her stomach.

"Oh Karma, you're just so.." she smiled, trying to sit up and reach for a book on the bedside table. "Adorable."

He looked up at her, and then he grabbed her by the legs, bringing her farther down the bed. "Noo~" he pouted, trapping her by putting his hands on either side of her head. He kissed her and said, "Tonight you are my human pillow."

"But Karma," she looked up at him, smiling. "Did you forget? Nagisa-kun, Kanzaki-chan, and Isogai-kun are going to be coming over."

He thought about this for a moment. "They won't be here for _the night._ They're just visiting." he smiled. "Too bad for you, you can't escape the inevitable cuddling." he snickered, seeing her shocked expression. He bent down and kissed her again, this time longer and more passionately.

"Karma," she gasped, pushing him away. "Come on~ you've kissed me a thousand times today!"

"Yes, but those were comfort kisses, and these are the 'Love Me Because I Love You' kisses." he said innocently, leaning in again.

Logic.


	3. Chapter 3

**Nurture**

 _"What is it that's making you so depressed?"_

 _Classes had ended several minutes ago, almost everyone had gone home, except for Okuda and Karma._

 _Looking up from her book bag, mild surprise and panic in her eyes, Okuda asked weakly, "Oh, do I.. look sad to you?"_

 _She wasn't trying to hide it from him. What was the point? He clearly already found out, so why try to convince him otherwise with her fake smiles? He wasn't saying anything to her, he was just staring, patiently waiting for an answer from her._

 _"I don't have my parents anymore.. so... it's like that. The reason I feel sad." her voice was quiet, shaky and strained. Already the tears were starting to form, and the knot in her throat tightened. The atmosphere around them felt uncomfortable as silence continued to settle_ _in-between them. Digging her nails into the palms of her hands until they hurt and were indented with crescent shapes; she bit her tongue in order to stop herself from crying in front of her classmate._ _Slinging her bag over her shoulder she walked briskly past him, not daring to look up at his face. The incident ended there, or it should have._

 _The next day, around the same time, she was leaving the campus and he was there in the middle of the path waiting for her._

 _"You don't have a place to stay, do you?" he asked, no, more like demanded._

 _"I... I do.." Okuda answered defensively, clutching her bag close to her._

 _"Where?"_

 _"A hotel."_

 _"No." he said firmly, eyes narrowing._

 _That was the end of the conversation._

* * *

 _A small apartment with an entrance way leading into a living room and kitchen. There were two bedrooms and one bathroom._

 _Sitting on the living room couch, Okuda didn't know what to do at all. Her classmate had taken her hotel room key and gone and gotten her things from there. She would have helped him, but he gave her a threatening glare and pointed a finger towards his living room, indicating that she should stay there until he got back._

 _It was a nice little space with a cream colored carpet floor and light blue walls. There was a little tv in the corner by a window, and a bookshelf full of manga and resource books. On a rectangular coffee table there was a game system, a remote for the tv and phone._

 _On the wall there was one family photo, it looked like, of Karma when he was 3 or 4 holdings hands with his parents on a beach. She would have expected more. In most families they would have several photos lying about the house._

 _Come to think of it, the girl noticed how quiet the apartment was. She began to wonder about the whereabouts of the Akabanes, but didn't get to think much because soon Karma was back carrying her dufflebag and suitcase in._

 _"Okuda-san."_

 _Said girl jumped, hearing his low voice close to her. Nervously sweating, she moved robotically, turning to face him._

 _The redhead held a box of milk up to her face, eyes shining. "You have to try this! They mixed chocolate in with the strawberry flavor!"_

 _She blinked, taking the box from his hands and saying thanks. He was acting friendly - completely different from earlier._

 _"Ah, and I also got takeout pizza for dinner. I hope you don't mind."_

 _"N-no not at all!" Okuda answered quickly._

 _"Good, then, shall we eat?" he asked her, smiling._

 _"Sure!" she smiled as well._

 _This was nice, eating with a friend._

 _Friend.._

 _Classmate.._

 _Guy who took her in..._

 _Wait wait wait, hold up! She was not supposed to move in with this guy who she barely knows!_

 _"Um...Karma-kun?"_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"Where the hell are your parents?"_

 _"Argentina. Or maybe India."_

 _The way he so nonchalantly answered the question made Okuda nervous. Were they gone so often he just didn't care?_

 _"You don't have to worry Okuda-san, we're facetiming my mom tonight."_

 _"That's supposed to make me feel better?"_

 _"If it will, then yes."_

 _"K-karma-kun!" she protested._

 _And for the record, it did make her feel better._


End file.
